Major Recap. So Sorry.

A lot has happened since our last blog. To quote a very funny pastor here, we are "So sorry. Wow. Yes, that's right". After our time in Toyota we headed over to Fujigaoka to work with Wendy and the church, putting on a children's program for 3 days. About 30 kids were crammed into the church, and we had a great time teaching some English, singing, playing games and the usual. It was a pretty intense schedule having the kids for 5 hours everyday, and spending our evenings with people from the church, but it was a great time. We were so blessed by Hattori-sensei's son Mark lending us his apartment for our stay, and so we treated ourselves to some more cultural training....of China....by watching the Karate Kid.
Andrea: "We had a lot of volunteers helping us that weren't Christian, and it's amazing how they're so helpful and willing still. They sing the songs and encourage the kids right along with us. It seems like they're almost there, but not quite."
We also got to play a softball game with the church and attend a Bon Festival (where they welcome ancestors home). We enjoyed dancing right along with them, even though we probably looked like fools, and had no idea what we were doing. But when in Japan....be Japanese.
Our time back in Osaka, now at Izumi, has also been great. We ran a one-day kids club yesterday and met with some English students, and tonight we had a college and high school age evening. It's been a nice way to ease ourselves out of Japan as these groups have been much smaller.
Yesterday, 2 of our friends from the last time we were in Osaka (Yuri and Hikaru) drove down for supper and an evening at the onsen. It was such a huge blessing to be able to spend more time with them, as we were sure last time we had already said our final goodbyes.
Tomorrow we will be helping out in the church service and having a hotdog lunch before heading back to Fujigaoka for our last night!
And now I'm off to bed!
Oyasumi-nasai!

Rice Count: Unknown. Lost track after 30.       Onsen Count: 4

Kids Club in Fujigaoka

Our visit from Yuri and Hikaru

Jamming with Tabata-sensei's sons tonight! Playing worship songs....and Justin Bieber. And me being excited to find a left-handed guitar :)

"At First I Was Afraid, I Was Petrified"

Currently we are sitting in slight disappointment. We just arrived back from a walk to a 7-11 where we found out upon arrival that the one thing we really wanted, was not served there. Slurpees. But I will get over it for long enough to write about our time in Toyota. Just ignore the slight note of sorrow in these words. 

After a full day of sight-seeing in Kyoto with a bunch of church members from Hoshida, Tanaka Sensei drove us out to Toyota for our second stay with Phil and Lydia. It felt good to be back for a second time, seeing as the first time we were jet-lagged, culture-shocked, and slightly unimpressed with being functional during the day. If any part of us was missing western culture this time, we got our fair share of it in food. Since Phil and Lydia's classes were coming to a close, we helped put on 3 "Canadian Style" BBQ's along with the "East Toyota Olympic Games". I can now confidently say that no part of me is craving a cheeseburger anymore! It was great getting to see how much of an impact Phil and Lydia had with their students, and the students on them as well. God was so evidently moving through those relationships and at work in these lives. We also had the opportunity to help with a 2 day kids club. I thought I had seen crazy children before. I was wrong. My theme song for the day that kept running through my head was "I Will Survive". We made it! The kids were incredibly cute and a lot of fun, but the energy level was a little scary at times! Ok, a lot scary at times. We are now enjoying a relaxing evening and look forward to sleeping in tomorrow :)

I will now leave you in anticipation:

Will Andrea ever find out what her mysterious skin disease is?

What will Zach's forehead look like after his trip to the barber shop tomorrow?

Rice Count: 20

Saying "Au Revoir" to the Bien's

 Visiting a castle in Kyoto

Tanaka Sensei and most of his family

 Phil and Lydia with some of their English students. Can you guess which person is the pastor?

 We get excited about new Japanese experiences.

Our version of Where's Waldo? ...Where's Zach?

The Half-Way Point

Hey all, Andrea here today, decided to give Megan a break :)  So I had already written this Blog entry about 5 minutes ago but then me, being technologically/Mac challenged, went and deleted the whole thing!! Gah!!  So for the second time..We arrived in Hoshida on Wednesday and it is now Sunday evening;  our first full day was Thursday, we spent pretty much the whole day at the church joining in on english classes.  In the evening our team had some much needed down time and decided to spend it learning about another culture... Greece ...... watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding!!  It was a wonderful time.  We've spent the other days running kids english classes, enjoying many lunches and suppers at the church, and just having some relaxing time at the Bien's.  We've had a great time getting to know Tanaka Sensei and his family (He is ridiculously funny!)  Last night we were invited to attend Korean Night at another church about half an hour away; it was really cool, it was a campus crusades group from South Korea of six young adults.  They performed some traditional dances, drimes, music, Thai Kwon Do, and Testimonies; THEN they treated us to a delicious traditional Korean meal! So good and not even very spicy!  Today we ran kids Sunday School and did some sharing and singing during the church service; in the afternoon they put a movie on in the chapel... anyone ever seen The Little Prince?  If you haven't, don't!  Pretty sure that movie was made in the seventies and it is just bizarre!  It was actually pretty entertaining just because it was so dumb; Megan would have liked to laugh through out the entire movie because it was so interesting but being in the room with Japanese men and woman in there seventies who aren't even snickering at the funny parts, kind of held her back.  After that we lay around the apartment for awhile before going to the onsen once again!  It was wonderful, if any of you ever travel to Japan you must visit one of these public baths!  It's almost like a spa, very relaxing once you get over the fact that your surrounded by naked strangers.
Tomorrow is our last day here in Hoshida and we will be going to Kyoto, a very old Japanese city, for site seeing.  Some members of the church will be taking us and we're all really looking forward to it; like I said it is one of the older cities with lots of historical sites so it should be really interesting.
Thanks for all the prayers!  I can honestly say that they are felt; if you could continue to pray for team unity, energy, and joy in serving Jesus that would be great! Bye for now!
Megan Tidbit: "It's incredible to see how english classes can be such an outreach to the non-christian and buddhist population of Japan. I find it completely ironic how the other day, we were teaching one of these classes how to sing "Our God is Greater" and they seemed to be loving it! Please continue to pray for the english classes and people like the Bien's!"

Rice Count: 15

 Playing tag with the kids

 Hiking in the mountains for breakfast

 Korean night!

Sunday School

Let's Eat Our Weight In Chocolate

Mukogawa came and went in the blink of an eye. We started our only full day there (Tuesday) by putting together fliers and visiting the pier. That afternoon we went to a train station to hand out fliers for their upcoming English classes. It was a rainy and windy afternoon as we anticipated the typhoon!! The evening was spent with some of the younger church members playing games and hanging out. It was a very fun and relaxing evening, just what we needed! However we were a little disappointed that we just were getting to know people, and would have to leave the next day. The evening ended off with us craving a bit of western culture....late night McDonalds run! And off we skipped down the block excitedly cheering "Cheeseburger!!!"
Wednesday we had our first typical Japanese breakfast. It was huge, and accompanied by a bowl of rice. Not exactly our cup of cha, but hey, we're willing to try anything! We also learned that we survived the typhoon. In fact, we slept right through it. Oops. In all honesty, we were a little disappointed. That morning we joined the church for a morning worship service. Even though we couldn't understand what Takeda-sensei was saying, he was so animated that we couldn't take our eyes off of him. It was also Marilyn and Allen Bien's farewell party for teaching English, so following the service there was lunch and a party. It was moving to see the relationships that developed between the Bien's and their students, and to see how the Bien's have been spreading God's love in Japan.
After playing some games, the party came to a close. And so did our time at Mukogawa. Short and sweet. We are now in Hoshida, where us girls are staying with the Bien's, and Zach is a few minutes away staying with another family. The Bien's have already shown great hospitality, along with the church members we have met. Today we helped with a children's English class, joined an English class while they prepared lunch, and I joined a french class. It's been a good start!
Andrea tidbit: "Things are moving in Japan. It's slow, but like the Chris Tomlin song God of This City, "greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city.""
Also praise God for the energy he has been providing us with. We are starting to get quite tired, but yet when we need to serve somewhere, God is faithful to provide us with just the right amount of energy we need!

 Singing with some of the members of Mukogawa

 This is Guchi. He makes sure to remove his bling to attain proper Jenga skills. He also later bought us cheeseburgers. It was the next day when we were told he probably only came because he heard there were going to be foreign girls.

Guess who won?

 Rock Paper Scissors, Duel Style

For winning bingo, the man in charge handed out scratch lottery tickets. We lost.

 We wish we could have had more time here!

A few of the kids from the English class in Hoshida

Chocolate :)

Des is the End. Des.

Currently we are sitting in anticipation for a new Japanese cultural experience. TYPHOON!! Apparently there is one on it's way and should hit around tomorrow afternoon. All day yesterday it rained, and today is much of the same plus the wind is starting up. It feels like Manitoba weather! (The picture we took at the pier today is what we will probably look like once it arrives).
Since our last blog post, we have moved on from Sakai-Chuo in Osaka, to Mukogawa (last night we arrived). It was very bittersweet, as we are excited to spend time at new churches, but will also really miss our friends and Japanese family at Osaka. Some of the things we had the opportunity of helping out with at Sakai-Chuo were a ladies morning/lunch, a children's english class, a couple of youth/young people's evenings and the church service Sunday morning. A couple of these evenings involved us cooking for the group which was an adventure of it's own. Tacos went over really well, but for scalloped potatoes, we couldn't find a lot of the ingredients. So it became our own creation, "Japenno Mash: Osaka Style". It went over great, so don't worry, we are bringing it back to Canada with us. The hospitality we felt there was incredible, and we came to really love the people. We were so encouraged by them, and could clearly see God at work in their lives. Please continue to pray for this church and how God will use it to reach out to the people of Osaka.
Our last couple of days there we had the opportunity to again go to families homes for supper as well as spend an evening at the Onsen (Japanese public baths). There's nothing like sitting in a bath with a bunch of women while watching Harry Potter dubbed in Japanese.
Our last day there, Monday, we got to spend the whole day with Yuri, Hikaru and Yuka, some friends we made at the church. Another missionary from Canada, Doris Goertz, also joined us for the morning and lunch. We spent the morning at a huge aquarium, which had just as many people as fish. It was a national holiday in Japan, Ocean's day, so the crowds were unreal! For lunch we went to a buffet restaurant where you fry everything at your table. Of course, we pretty much ate our weight in food as it was so delicious! After, us girls worked off the chocolate fondue by....shopping! Zach was spared, and taken to Osaka Castle by Hikaru. After a supper of Ramen, Hikaru drove us out to Mukogawa. And here we are! The "okashii" Canadians/American.

 A meal where you catch your noodles as they slide down a bamboo shoot in water.

Taking a "Canadian Style" picture

Dutch Blitz has officially landed in Japan

After the church service, being presented with our beautiful Yukatas.

A few of the many people we will miss!

 Naomi and Yuri

 Byungjun

 Hikaru

 Aiko

Kazu (Zach's new best bud)

Sugi-Sensei and his family (minus one)

"Is this a 2-way street?" "It's always a 2-way street."

Tuesday, before helping out with Phil and Lydia's english classes, we took time in the morning to visit a Japanese Washi-making center and museum. It was great ending our orientation here by learning about the art of Japanese paper-making. Once back at House of Grace, we spent the whole day joining in on the english classes at the church. Chantelle's tidbit: "I was remembered!! (from last year).  On a serious note, Pastor Nozomu, who leads chapel during english classes, is perfect for those people. It's good to have someone Japanese to answer their questions, and he's very enthusiastic about it."
It was great getting to meet the people that will be at the BBQ we're helping out at when we return to Toyota.
The next morning, we were forced out of house and home. No seriously. We had to pack up our stuff and be on the road by 8am to drive to Osaka (about a 2.5 hour drive). It was a beautiful scenic drive though, so we had a blast seeing more of Japan, and marveling at their vehicles and tiny roads! Upon arrivel in Osaka, we met with Sugi-Sensei (the pastor of Sakai-chuo Christ Church where we are now staying), and had a delicious lunch with his family. Andrea, who said she would never eat fish eggs, accidently helped herself to a portion of pasta covered in fish eggs, which is still not her favorite dish. They are very welcoming and we became very excited to be working with them. Sugi-Sensei walked us to the supermarket so we could buy a few things. Of course, us not being able to read Japanese, accidently bought seaweed flavored chips, something we were hoping to avoid. We'll let you know how those turn out when we're brave enought to open the bag.
A major outreach we'll be doing here is having a "Canadian Youth Night" and an "American Youth Night." This involved us going to the university and handing out fliers. It was a little intimidating, as all we knew how to say was "Hello! Come to the Party!" But the Japanese, being as gracious as they are, mostly accepted our fliers.
For supper we were split into two groups of two and picked up by members of the church to have supper at their homes. Andrea and myself went with Kazuo and Chiyomi Kono (or Chiyomi mama as she wanted us to call her). We had the biggest meal we had ever seen! Pork, chicken, salad with tuna and octopus, rice, soup that tasted like mennonite cabbage borscht, omelette, watermelon, bean pudding, dried seaweed. It never ended! But was very delicious! Afterwards we were blown away by the giving attitude of the Japanese people. It was overwhelming to experience such hospitality from almost complete strangers. The love of God is so evident in these people, and we're excited to see them again on Sunday!
Chantelle and Zach went to the Harada household where they were treated to make your own sushi and Japanese folk music. The grandmother sang, while they played harmonica and ocarina. Zach tidbit: "Despite the language barrier, we were able to experience the love and kindness of our hosts, and see that God is definitely a member of this house. We were very welcome."
UPDATE: Bag of chips just opened. Actually pretty good!

Day: 6      Rice Count: 6      NEW! Gift Fan Count: 4,   Octopus Eating Count: 3

 Shinto Shrine beside the road where women put up flags to be blessed with fertility.

 Having a western moment on the road to Osaka.

 Zach prefers going Japanese with rice balls covered in seaweed.

Andrea and I with the Kono's, wearing the Yukata (summer kimonos) her mother made.
(And no, my hair isn't greasy, I just got out of the shower!)

And now for something completely different... A Japanese beauty salon.

"Foreigners in a Japanese Church = Happiness"

I'm going to blame this on jet lag, but I made a mistake in the previous entry and said the house we are staying in is called "House of Hope" when in fact it is the "House of Grace." Oops!
As Zach puts it, "Foreigners in a Japanese church = happiness", and that's what we experienced Sunday morning at the church service and lunch at Toyota East Christ Church. It was really encouraging to see Pastor Nozumu speak passionately, even though we only know about half of what he said, and to get to meet a bunch of fellow Christians half-way around the world. It was evident that God is alive in the church in Japan! Afterwards we took a drive out to a different church for a Koto (Japanese harp) concert. Everytime we drive we never cease to be amazed by the vehicles here, including what we like to call a "Super Futuristic Japanese Mr.Bean Car." I think I may sneak one home with me. The musician played beautifully and it was great to experience another bit of culture. That evening we were back at the church for a supper and evening of fellowship with some of the church members and youth. We were able to share testimony, music and a drama, and loved to see the enthusiasm of the Japanese people.
Monday brought much more orientation. In the afternoon we had the opportunity of learning calligraphy from 2 ladies from the church. I don't think we have ever concentrated so hard in our lives. To give our brains a rest afterwards, Phil took us on a walk up to a Shinto shrine and Buddhist temple nearby. Both religions are largely based on nature, so the locations were very beautiful; however, it hit us that so many people here base their lives on an empty religion. It's shocking how many shrines and temples are set up within a small vicinity.
To end off the evening, Wendy Eros, another missionary who we'll be working with later, joined us for a trip to a fruit store and an extremely filling supper of Tempura! This was about the time in the evening when we all seem to lose it a little bit, so I will end this entry here!
Thanks for the prayers and support! Please continue to pray for rest for us, because going to bed between 9-10 is starting to get a little ridiculous!
Day: 4         Rice Count: 4  :)
I hope you like pictures.....

 This is how missionaries and pastors spend time in Japan

 Waiting for Koto concert to start, with our new fans from Wendy

 The end result. And thankfully, no one bumped the table.

Praying over the city of Toyota

And now for something completely different....